Failing to return items to the library just shows who the people are who are
careless or incompetent and who failed to learn responsibility when they were
young. Obviously the law tries to teach responsibility later on in life, but for
some people it comes too late.

Hard to believe this. Arrest and prosecution most assuredly cost much more than
the missing books are worth. Books don't HAVE to be replaced, after all,
so tight budgets are no excuse for exercising heavy handed authority. Makes as
much sense as shutting down kids' lemonade stands and unlicensed mistletoe
operations. Never underestimate the reach of a petty bureaucrat.

No, and we don't HAVE to have libraries, either, but
we'd sure raise a fuss if the city decided to close them in the interest of
economy. Books, particularly reference books, have gotten a lot more expensive
recently, as was pointed out in a recent article on the cost of textbooks while
library budgets have stayed about the same. If someone took an item from the
city recreational center worth, let's say, ninety dollars and didn't
return it, no one would raise an eyebrow when the police showed up to deal with
it. Should the fact that the item is a book and not a football helmet make any
difference when it's public property?

The cost of prosecution
and incarceration are never factored into any other offenses, so what makes a
library any different? Prosecuting and jailing someone who steals three dollars
worth of stuff from K-Mart costs a lot more than the loss, too. No one is
saying to let that person go because it'll save tax dollars.